Foray into Solids

My son has started a little bit of solid food so far.  I bid a fond farewell to exclusively breastfed poop, which washes right out and does not need to be rinsed.

When babies are older, you can just flip solids into the potty and wash the diaper as usual.

However, if you have been through solids, whether your baby was cloth or disposable diapered, you will feel my pain here.  Sweet potatoes go in and, well, sweet potatoes come out.  Only with an even less pleasant consistency.

So what the heck do you do in that gross, in between stage?  Well, I've heard of quite a few methods.  Some people keep a scraper handy and scrape solids into the toilet and/or "dunk and swish" the diaper in the toilet.  This makes me shudder for many reasons.  One is because of the tablets I use in our toilet tanks to prevent the lovely stain at the water line that reappears hours after I've scrubbed the toilet.  I don't want that junk on my toilet!  Not to mention putting my hand and his diaper in a cesspool of germs.  YUCK!  No offense to those who use this method, it's not for me.

Some people use a diaper sprayer.  It's like a hand held bidet, looks like a hand held shower head kind of.  You have to have a flexible hose on your toilet's water line to attach it.  You then hold the diaper in/over the toilet bowl and use the sprayer to blast the poo off.

This works for lots of people.  They're a little spendy, but if you google you can find instructions to make one with parts from a hardware store for about half as much.

I have a lot of concerns about this though.  I believe it takes some practice to be able to spray without making a big mess.  There is an interesting invention to get around this, but it wouldn't fit in our tiny half bath.

Which brings me to my next concern.  Whatever solution I use, it needs to be on the first floor, since that's where I change most of my diapers.  Our half bath is the bathroom we (including my 4-year old) use most, and the bathroom our guests use.  So I am concerned about there being anything smelly, weird looking, or too tempting in there.  By that I mean, I don't want a curious preschool-age guest flooding my house in a "what's this do" moment.  Then there's always the concern of it failing, since sprayers we have in sinks are not usually under constant pressure.

Which now leads me to my current arrangement.  I have a utility sink in my laundry room.

The sink has a pull out sprayer.

It has normal water flow

That turns into a spray when you push the button on top.

We have kind of lame water pressure overall, but it seems to do OK.

Is spraying my dirties off in here gross?  It's not like we'll be preparing food in here or anything, and doesn't it all end up in the same place?  *shrug* For now, It's working!  Of course this is with my son eating a tablespoon or two of food, when it gets even grosser, I'm sure I'll have to do some pre-scraping, even if I continue to spray in here!

Go with the flow

The best piece of advice I could give for getting started with cloth is to go with the flow. 

People who know me well know how unlike me that really is.  I wish I were easygoing, but I'm just not.  I have to have everything planned, figured out, all scenarios worked through in my head.  It's only been in recent years that I've accepted that I'm wound a little bit tightly and that's OK.

When I thought about starting cloth, I wanted to know exactly what brand to buy, how many,  and how often I would wash.  I wanted to wash, dry, stuff, fold and put away.  I wanted to have some upstairs and some downstairs.  A pail up and a pail down.  Everything neat and in order.  I wanted a stash in the diaper bag at all times.  Now, I just grab a couple as we're leaving, depending on how long we'll be gone, and go with it.  I needed to know exactly what my washing routine would be.  Now, I vary it based on whether they are wet or dirty, how many there are, whether they're stinky and so forth.

As I've been trying new things, my initial intent was to figure out what brand I wanted to stock up on.  I've managed to loosen up and take a different approach.  Instead, I am just trying new things and figuring out what I like best.  If there's something I really like, I will choose that brand if I have a few bucks to spend on diapers, or if there's a really good sale.  If it's not my favorite, it will be at the bottom of the pile, in essence a "laundry day" diaper.

While I was expecting my first child, I was worrying about the teenage years, college and weddings.  So when I was thinking about cloth diapering, I was worrying about solid foods and potty training.   I'm working on a post about solid foods and cloth diapers now, but again, right now I am just doing what works for us.

We're actually using our laundry room as a "diaper pail" right now, either throwing the diapers directly into the washer, or putting them in the utility sink if I am doing other laundry.  If we change one upstairs (usually just one or two a day up there) we just carry it down.  Definitely NOT what my little organized mind wants, but it's working for us!

I am really proud of myself for being able to stick with what works for us right now & not worrying too much about tomorrow.

Oh Poop

Right now, poop on a cloth diaper ain't no thang.  Breastfed baby poo is water soluble, so you can just throw em in the washer.  As baby gets older, you can just flip it in the potty & be on your way.

That in between stage is much more hazy.  I have memories of peanut butter consistency poo in rainbows of colors.  I'll tell you, I am simply not interested in the ol dunk & swish method.

There are a couple brands of biodegradable/flushable/disposable diaper liners, some of which claim to be septic safe.  Reviews for one brand even claim they can be washed a few times if they are just wet.  In the end I'm not sure that solution is for me.

On the flip side, you can get a diaper sprayer that attches to your toilet & allows you to hose them in your toilet.  There are downsides to that too, and some people have come up with really clever solutions.  You can even find instructions for a homemade sprayer made with items you can find at your local home improvement store.

In the end, I think we will go with the bumgenius sprayer in our 1/2 bath, along with a large wet bag stored there as well.  They are expensive though, so I'm not sure if we will manage to get one before we start solids!